Awning Up or Down

[kitamom]

We live in Central Illinois and it is windy here most of the time. We were camping in southern Illinois and a storm blew in (60 mph straight line wind). We were lucky and got the awning down in time, several others were not as lucky. The people with us were in a tent it was staked good, the top ripped off of the floor of the tent. It was a brand new tent being used for the first time.

Okay now my question. Do we need to worry about the wind and the awning at the Fort in Mid May? Is it wise to leave it up while at the parks in WDW.

Connie

 

[Shannone1]

We live in Central Illinois and it is windy here most of the time. We were camping in southern Illinois and a storm blew in (60 mph straight line wind). We were lucky and got the awning down in time, several others were not as lucky. The people with us were in a tent it was staked good, the top ripped off of the floor of the tent. It was a brand new tent being used for the first time.

Okay now my question. Do we need to worry about the wind and the awning at the Fort in Mid May? Is it wise to leave it up while at the parks in WDW.

Connie

I think that is going to depend on where your site is. It got pretty windy while we were there, but we left our awning up the whole week without a problem. We were really protected from the wind by trees in the back and side of our site.

 

[mike k.]

we were in the FORT in Dec./06 - site 604.
The poor fella in site 605 left his awning up while in the park.
A fast moving thunderstorm rolled thru at dinnertime. The awning collapsed from the weight of the water collected on it. At the very least, lower one end to allow drainage.
can't wait to go back

 

[stacktester]

I lost an awning on my Tailgator and luckily I could fix it myself. It was only partially ripped from it's holder and I had to buy a new brace arm. The stupid thing was that I didn't even need it out.

I recommend closing the awning if you're going to be away for a while. I've actually closed a few for neighbors at the fort and other places so they wouldn't come back to a disaster. When we were at the fort last summer a storm was coming and I closed the guy across from us' awning. He was running down the loop watching me and saying he was coming to do it. He was very thankful I was trying to help. You never know about central Florida weather so I would say up when away.

 

[kitamom]

we were in the FORT in Dec./06 - site 604.
The poor fella in site 605 left his awning up while in the park.
A fast moving thunderstorm rolled thru at dinnertime. The awning collapsed from the weight of the water collected on it. At the very least, lower one end to allow drainage.
can't wait to go back

I thought that is normal for one side to be lower. When we first started out we were not aware of this and wondered why people would put the awning up slanted. First rain we found out why.

Connie

 

[christinou]

We also have anchors type of things that we use to hold the awning down, we have always left our awning down, slanted, without a problem, but have seen many awnings ripped because of a fast moving thunderstorm, we camp at FW in August, when some of those storms can really be nasty.

 

[Minnie's Mate]

After having our awning arm bend beyond repair in our own back yard (rear arm and it was one notch lower than front) during a heavy rain, I always lower the rear arm to its lowest notch when we leave. On our first trip to FW I lowered the rear arm of our awning while we went to DTD. When we returned there were two RV's in our loop that had their awnings damaged by the thunderstorm that blew up while we were gone. One was ripped from its mounting spline about a third of its length. Its always a good idea to lower at least one arm or completely retract the awning. We don't retract it since we have awning lights attached to it the entire length that would have to be re-hung every evening and taken down every night. But even lowering one end doesn't completely safeguard against damage.

 

[djblu883]

I was camping this past weekend and had my camper well STAKED with one end lower. AND anti- flappers (2 each side)..36MPH winds came in after I left my camper and I was gone for several hours...when I got back it was ok...it began to rain just as I got back...we had the grill under the awning and cooked as the storm blew through...just make sure you use good heavy duty tie downs and the twist type stakes (they come with thin nylon rope I kept for another project). If you do know before hand a storm is coming just go ahead and take it down. Last year my grandaughter was in ICU and we made the mistake of not staking it(unusual for me) and I lost my awning (old camper)...when I bought my new camper it cost 1,000 to have it added....not cheap if you have to replace hardware and vinyl!!!! Be forewarned!

 

[Tricializ]

I ALWAYS put my awning in before I leave for any period of time. Now that I have an automatic awning it is easy to do, plus I have had trouble having it roll up after a rainstorm when it is too wet. So, I am probably a little paranoid. But, when I have been camping with my mom at FW in her old RV, we didn't know what we were doing and couldn't figure out why the heck everyone had their awnings angled down and especially all crooked. We were the idiots who had ours in the "Car park" mode, straight out in Florida in June. One huge downpour and we learned real quick. We came back from the park and that awning had gallons of water collected on it and it was weighed down pretty bad. So, we decide we better lower one side to drain it but it was too heavy. So, I get up on the picnic table to get higher up by the arms of the awning to have more "Oomph" and I finally get the arm disengaged, only to have....you guessed it, the weight of the water drop that arm all the way down which resulted in an enourmous dumping of water (cold too) right on top of me!!!! It was so strong and quick that it knocked me right off the picnic table and all the way to the ground. I was fine but dazed and my mom and kids thought it was hilarious. I went storming into the RV all ticked off. Then when I was dry, I laughed my head off too. What a dummy I was (we all were , actually)

So, to answer the question, I definitely put my awning in.
Tricia